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There are many myths surrounding dietary fat – some are good and some are bad.

In general many believe that eating fat is bad for you. While it’s true that an excess of anything (be it fat, alcohol, take-away, even exercise) can be bad for you, eating fat is not always a bad thing. In fact, a certain amount of fat is necessary to keep your body healthy.

Saturated fat is bad for you
If you ask most people they will tell you that saturated fat is bad for you, that it causes heart disease and cancer and increases your cholesterol levels.

While this is true to some degree, saturated fats alone are not the sole cause of these problems.

In years gone by we ate a lot of saturated fats (think bread and dripping) – roasts and other meats with hunks of fat, bacon and eggs for breakfast, cakes and biscuits made with butter, eggs and whole milk, butter or dripping on everything.

Yet, compared to today, our grandparents were healthier. Back then, wholefoods were the order of the day, as was regular exercise gained housework, manual labour and walking to your destination.

Although eating too much saturated fat can raise your cholesterol levels or contribute to heart disease, it’s more likely to be a problem for those who also consume a lot of take-away food, drink too much alcohol, avoid exercise and smoke.

If you follow a diet that is rich in healthy, wholefoods with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, wholegrains and good quality meats, combined with regular/daily exercise and moderate amounts of alcohol, then it’s safe to eat foods high in saturated fat providing they are natural (eg. whole milk, eggs, butter, meats and poultry).

Cholesterol causes heart disease
This is a popular myth that has been circulating for over 30 years. It’s one of the primary reasons for the creation of low fat diets in the 1970s.

It’s true that cholesterol can increase the build up of plaque in your arteries. However, high cholesterol levels are often the result of an over-production of cholesterol by the liver rather than eating too much saturated fat.

Many are unaware that the body makes cholesterol in the liver and will match what you eat. Also, those with high cholesterol levels often (there are some exceptions to the rule) lead lifestyles that contribute to higher cholesterol levels – ie. they’re inactive, eat excessive amounts of highly processed foods and drink too much alcohol.

If you’re leading a healthy lifestyle – regularly exercise and a diet high in fibre, healthy fats, wholegrains, fruits, vegetables and lean meats – then it’s unlikely you’ll develop heart disease (unless it runs in your family).

Dietary fats make you fat
Fat itself is not a bad thing. In fact, fat contains fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K) and helps to protect your internal organs, lubricate your joints and keep your skin supple.

Although it’s easier for the body to convert excess fat to body fat, your total daily calories  are more likely to be the cause of excess weight then the amount of fat you eat.

Everyone needs a certain amount of calories each day to maintain their current weight. To lose weight you need to eat less/exercise more to create a calorie deficit each day. However, if you go over your required daily calories on a regular/daily basis, then you will gain weight regardless of whether the excess calories came from fat, carbohydrates or protein.

Fat myths are just that – myths.

While there’s always some truth to a myth, it’s important to remember that dietary fat (including saturated fat) is beneficial to your health. Rather than worrying about the amount of fat you eat, focus on eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly instead.

Written by Andrew Talati

Sadly, the Federal Government rejected the Traffic light labelling reforms today.

While the labelling system might have lead to some confusion for certain unhealthy foods (eg. those high in natural sugars as opposed to highly processed foods that are low in sugar), it is still a far better system than the current labelling laws.

The Government cited there was “inconclusive evidence” to support  introduction of a traffic labelling system, particularly when viewed alongside studies showing that such a system can influence buyer behavior.

The bottom line is, Australia has some extremely powerful food lobby groups whose members would have been disadvantaged  if the traffic system had been given the green light.

Written by Andrew Talati

There’s been quite a bit of talk recently about changing the way food products are labelled in an attempt to educate and encourage people to make healthier food choices.

Governments around the world are considering (and in some cases have already implemented) systems that provide ‘traffic light’ nutrition labels on food.

The general idea is that every food product you buy would have a label on the front advising you of the fat, sugar and sodium levels in terms of good (green), okay (amber), and too high (red).

It sounds like a good idea. The question is, will it work?

Traffic Light Labels
The primary idea behind traffic light labelling is to make it easier for the general public to choose healthier food options without the need for a lot of education.

By adding colour-coded labels to food, people will instantly know whether or not their food falls into a good, okay or not good category.

It also allows Governments and health promotion agencies to focus their attention on promoting the system rather than the larger job of providing nutrition education.

The idea of colour-coded food labels is quite good. Foods are assessed on the levels of fat, salt and sugar. Levels of each determine the colour-code of each category.

For example, a food that receives the green light in each category can be eaten regularly. A product that gets the red light should be avoided or, at the very least, eaten only on occasion. Amber foods can be consumed in moderation as they are neither high nor low.

Traffic Light Criteria
The criterion for categorising food is based on the amounts of fat, sugar and salt per 100gm. The 100gm measurement has been used for many years now to help people compare food products. Most of us have used this system at some time have compared two or three products to find the better option based on the nutritional content.

In essence, traffic light labels take this idea one step further. Colour-coding  information on the front of the packet will make it so much easier to choose a healthier product.

The following table shows how the content of foods will be categorised:

Green Amber Red
Total fat per 100gm <3 gm 3.1-19.9gm >20gm
Saturated fat per 100gm < 5gm 5.1-14.9gm >15gm
Sugar per 100gm <5gm 5.1 -14.9gm >15gm
Sodium (salt) per 100gm 120mg 121-599mg >600mg

Iphone Application
The Cancer Council of Victoria have actually released an application for the iPhone that compensates for the lack of movement by the government. Just search the iTunes app store under “Traffic Light Labelling.”

The Pros and Cons
As with many things, the traffic light system has both good and bad points.

While the system will help easier identification of good and not so good nutritional foods, the system doesn’t differentiate between healthy and unhealthy foods.

For example, many breakfast cereals may be perceived as healthy, but using the traffic light system they’ll get a green light for saturated fat, amber for sodium and a red light for sugar.

In this instance these foods are unhealthy but no labelling identifies them as such. However, people do need to use common sense. Even though a product may have two ‘green lights’ and one red light,  consumers still need to understand that a high sugar content is inherently unhealthy.

As a health promotion exercise and an attempt to improve the obesity problem on both a national and international level, the traffic light system is a simple way to encourage us to be more conscious of the foods we choose.

As with many Government health initiatives, while the traffic light system may encourage people to be more selective about their food choices, there are those who will continue eat what they want regardless of its health impact.

Obesity is clearly an issue in the Western world. Anything that can be done to help improve the health and wellbeing of our population is always a good thing.

And while there may be some issues with traffic light labelling, encouraging people to choose healthier food options can and will have a positive impact on the health of our nation.

Written by Andrew Talati

Many say that, when it comes to choosing nutritious food for your children, it’s a parent’s responsibility to read the nutritional information on the box and make the right choice.

But, unless you’re a dietician, it’s a pretty hard task when companies like Kelloggs include misleading and confusing information on their product boxes.

Kelloggs and  other big food conglomerates are currently pushing the boundaries of food labeling in lieu of the imminent threat of government legislation.

Kelloggs puts their RDI percentages are at the top of cereal boxes. But is their message misleading?

Take a box of Coco Pops, for example. The nutritional information tells us that sugars make up 12% of your DI (dietary intake). You’d automatically think this is OK, BUT… Coco Pops also contains 36 grams of sugar per 100 grams or 36.5%.

Does Kelloggs nutritional information give you a fair representation of the amount of sugar contained in a box of Coco Pops? No.

If we go by Kelloggs’ information,  10% DI looks a lot lower than 36.5% sugar. Once again, this is just a clever way of manipulating nutritional information to give a skewed impression of a product.

Kelloggs recently said: “We now focus much of our efforts on promoting healthier cereals, such as Sultana Bran.”

Hmmm… Sultana Bran may provide a 1/3 of  daily fibre needs, but what about its 28.4% of sugar? Can it really be a healthier breakfast cereal?

The problem is that so many products are sold as high fibre or low fat, and therefore apparently healthy. But what companies don’t say is that they’re also high in sugar.

Put simply, we need a better system to manage nutritional information. It needs to be easier to understand, so that you don’t require an intricate knowledge of RDI or grams per 100 grams or grams per serving to understand it.

I quite like the traffic light system – it doesn’t get much simpler.  It’s so simple, in fact, that the Grocery Council of Australia are fighting its introduction or any discussion regarding its merits.

When we know that childhood obesity  tripled between 1985 and 1995 (according to the Australasian Society for the study of obesity), this issue becomes all the more serious.

So the real question is not whether you can advertise whatever you like and put the onus back on to parents to make the right decision.

It’s whether the current system of self-regulation is working at all.

Written by Andrew Talati

The owner of the master franchises  KFC and Sizzle in Queensland, Collins Foods Limited, has cited a 1.2% decrease in profit for the first half of 2011 when compared to the same period last year.

While CEO, Kevin Perkins, claimed it was a result of s fragile consumer confidence and a highly competitive environment, one has to ask the question whether the market is moving away from purely fast food to healthier options.

Even Hungry Jacks has recently introduced a cup full of vegetables alternative to their fries or onion rings.

It will be interesting to see whether KFC introduce healthier food options. Currently, your only   options are (from kfc.com.au/nutrition/the-choice-is-yours.asp):

Written by Andrew Talati

1.  To ask for less salt when ordering chips (but what about the fatty oil they’re cooked in, Colonel?)
2.  Drink water or juice. (Mmmm, juice made from concentrate with added sugar).
3.  Choose soft drinks like Pepsi Max that have no sugar. (Ok, but they do contain aspartame (E951), which has been linked to multiple sclerosis, systemic lupus or symptoms such as asthma, allergies and migraines).

It’s like drinking  vodka instead of beer as it has fewer calories and you don’t need to consume the same quantity to get drunk. I’m not comparing fast food to alcohol, but I think you get the idea that alcohol by any other name is still alcohol.

Overall, a shift is occurring within fast food chains. Whether it’s due to greater public awareness about the health issues around consumption of fast food or a marketing ploy, it’s still great to see change is coming.

Written by Andrew Talati